The Power of Prevention

A great deal of healthcare and research is dedicated to the curing and treatment of some of the worst ailments to afflict human beings. The treatment of heart disease through stent surgery, for example, is a billion dollar industry. While it’s absolutely fair and morally right that people with such terrible afflictions as heart disease, diabetes and cancer should have access to the care and treatment they need, it’s worrying how little emphasis the medical sector places on prevention.

With any of the great threats to world health, prevention is always the best cure (particularly in countries without universal health care where getting sick can be an extremely costly endeavor). Many resign themselves to the likes of cancer, diabetes and heart disease because they ‘run in the family’, but this is an unfortunately nurtured fallacy. As anyone at the Natural Health Clinic of Halton will tell you, with the right preventative care and lifestyle choices there’s no reason why you should accept these terrible afflictions as an inevitability.

Image via Pixabay

The Power of Plants

Underestimate the importance of diet on your overall health at your peril. There’s a mountain of evidence to suggest that the ‘traditional western diet’- which is to say a diet heavy in processed foods and meats, is far from conducive to your health. While in recent years the likes of The Atkins Diet and the Dukan diet have made a case for protein rich, meat-centric diets, our bodies are not as well equipped to digest meat (and certainly not equipped to process dairy products) as one might think. We are not natural carnivores. Our incisors are small and blunt, we don’t have claws and our stomach acid is much weaker than that of carnivorous animals like cats. Increasingly, the evidence is showing that a wholefoods plant-based diet is a great step forward in preventing the inflammation that can lead to serious illnesses from heart disease to depression.

Image via Flickr

The Chinese Connection

Unlike its modern western counterpart, Chinese medicine had a heavy bias toward prevention. Herbal remedies and acupuncture are not just mystical quackery, their healing and preventative benefits have been widely publicized by the US Institute of Health in the late ‘90s. Acupuncture works by inserting slim, sterile needles at strategic points in the body and has been directly linked to improvements in immune, endocrinal, cardiovascular and digestive health.

Exercise, it’s non-negotiable

While there may be some variance among medical professionals when it comes to what makes a ‘good’ diet, virtually everyone agrees that the benefits of regular exercise speak for themselves. There is strong evidence to suggest that regular exercise reduces your risk of heart disease, diabetes, depression and even several types of cancer by regulating and balancing hormones as well as combating inflammation and keeping the heart and circulatory systems healthy.

Although insurance companies and pharmaceutical giants have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, one cannot overlook the power of prevention in maintaining good health. Fortunately, the preventative measures are easy, enjoyable and applicable to anyone, whatever your lifestyle.